TAX EXPENDITURES FOR HEALTH CARE

Transcription

1 TAX EXPENDITURES FOR HEALTH CARE Scheduled for a Public Hearing Before the SENATE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE on July 31, 2008 Prepared by the Staff of the JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION July 30, 2008 JCX-66-08

3 I. OVERVIEW The Senate Committee on Finance has scheduled a public hearing on July 31, 2008, titled Health Benefits in the Tax Code: The Right Incentives. This document, 1 prepared by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, provides a description of present law tax expenditures for health care. The Internal Revenue Code 2 includes a number of significant tax expenditures for health expenses. 3 The availability of these different benefits depends in part on: 1. Is the individual covered under an employer-provided health plan? 2. Does the individual have self-employment income? 3. Does the individual itemize deductions and have medical expenses that exceed a certain threshold? 4. Is the individual covered by a high-deductible health plan? Table 1 shows estimates of the tax expenditures for the health care sector in The largest tax expenditure is for employer-provided health care benefits. The exclusion of Medicare benefits is the next largest tax expenditure, but at a total of $39.3 billion, is only a fraction of the size of the expenditure for employer-provided health care benefits. The remaining tax expenditures, such as the self-employment exclusion and the deduction for medical expenses greater than 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income, were each less than $10 billion, while the estimated tax expenditure for health savings accounts was less than $500 million. 1 This document may be cited as follows: Joint Committee on Taxation, Tax Expenditures for Health Care (JCX-66-08), July 30, This document is available at 2 Unless otherwise indicated, all section references are to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code ). 3 Appendix A compares in tabular form the various tax provisions that mitigate the costs of health care under present law. 1

4 Table 1. Calendar Year Tax Expenditure for Health, 2007 Value of Tax Expenditures Billions of Dollars Exclusion of employer sponsored health care Income FICA Exclusion of Medicare benefits from income Hospital Insurance (Part A) Supplementary Medical Insurance (Part B) Prescription Drug Insurance (Part D) Exclusion of subsidies to employers who maintain prescription drug plans Deduction for medical expenses above 7.5% of adjusted gross income Self-employed health insurance deduction Exclusion of medical care and TRICARE insurance for military dependents and retirees not enrolled in Medicare Exclusion of health insurance benefits for military retirees enrolled in Medicare Health savings accounts Health coverage tax credit Source: JCT Staff calculations. The presentation in Table 1 differs from conventional estimates of tax expenditures in two respects. This presentation has been selected to provide a sense of the full scope of the amounts involved in the special tax treatment of the health tax items listed. First, these estimates do not include the effects of tax form behavior. In particular, conventional expenditure estimates prepared by the Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (the JCT Staff ) assume that when taxpayers are denied an exclusion for employer sponsored insurance, they can deduct premiums under section 213 to the extent that their expenses exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income. By contrast, the figures in this Table 1 assume that, if the exclusion for employer sponsored health insurance were repealed, employees would not be permitted to take into account the insurance premiums towards the section 213 medical expense deduction. If tax form behavior were taken into account and insurance premiums paid by an employer remained eligible for section 213, the income tax expenditure would decline from $145.3 billion to approximately $105 billion. In addition, conventional tax expenditures are calculated only with respect to their effect on income taxes, and thus do not include payroll tax (FICA) effects. The estimate for the FICA effects of the employer exclusion in Table 1 does not reflect the effects of changes in current FICA liability on the present value of taxpayers future social security benefits. Finally, unlike revenue estimates, neither the estimates in Table 1 nor conventional tax expenditure estimates assume other behavioral responses by taxpayers. 2

5 The most favorable tax treatment under present law generally is provided to individuals who are in an employer plan where the employer pays the premium. 4 Such individuals may exclude from income and wages employer-provided health insurance; depending on the employer s plan, they may also exclude from income amounts expended for medical care not covered by insurance. Self-employed individuals receive the next most favorable treatment; they may deduct 100 percent of the cost of their health insurance from their income tax, but they may not deduct their health insurance premiums from their payroll tax base. In the case of the employer-provided exclusion and the self-employed deduction, there is no cap on the tax benefit that would limit the generosity of health plans that can be purchased with pre-tax dollars. Present law also provides additional, less significant, tax expenditures for health care benefits. There are significant non-tax advantages to operating through the employer-provided system. Providing health insurance coverage through a large group provides significant savings because of risk mitigation and lower administrative costs. Employers typically have superior negotiating power, compared to individual consumers, in negotiating the terms of insurance coverage with insurers. In addition, a group system mitigates the problems of adverse selection and results in coverage of less healthy individuals who may be unable to obtain insurance outside of a pooled arrangement. The combination of tax and economic advantages of employerprovided health care have resulted in the employer-provided system providing the vast majority of health care coverage, resulting in the large tax expenditure seen in Table 1 for employerprovided health care. Nevertheless, the current system of providing a generous tax subsidy for employerprovided health care with no or little subsidy in the case of insurance purchased outside of the employer market distorts taxpayer and market behavior. The existence of the subsidy reduces the price of the consumption of health care, leading to overconsumption of health care relative to other goods and services for those taxpayers with qualifying plans, and very expensive health care for taxpayers in the individual market. Unlike most tax expenditures, the large subsidy associated with employer-provided health care is subject to few statutory limitations. 4 The refundable HCTC provides a greater tax benefit than the exclusion. Fewer than one-half million taxpayers per year, however, are estimated to be eligible for the credit. 3

6 II. EMPLOYMENT RELATED TAX EXPENDITURES A. Employer-Provided Health Care In general The Code generally provides that an employee is not taxed on (that is, may exclude from his or her gross income) the value of employer-provided health care. The exclusion for employer-provided health care is the largest tax expenditure under the current tax system. The tax expenditure for the exclusion for employer-provided health care is estimated to be $246.1 billion for 2007, using the methodology described in connection with Table 1. This represents by far the largest portion of the total tax expenditures for health and is the third largest health expenditure if measured against direct Federal spending, exceeded only by direct expenditures for Medicare and Medicaid. Income generally is defined to include compensation paid to a service provider in any form, whether in cash or in kind. The value of health insurance that an employer purchases for its employees unquestionably constitutes compensation to each covered employee in this general sense. The exclusion therefore represents a departure from the Code s general tax principle that compensation should be included in income; for that reason, the JCT Staff treats employerprovided health insurance as a tax expenditure. 5 5 For a discussion of the JCT Staff s general approach to tax expenditures analysis, see Joint Committee on Taxation, A Reconsideration of Tax Expenditure Analysis (JCX-37-08), May 12,

7 Table 2. Calendar Year Employer Exclusion Tax Savings 1, 2007 Adjusted Gross Income Total Savings (millions) Income Tax Savings (millions) FICA Tax Savings (millions) Total Tax Returns (thousands) Average Savings Per Return (dollars) < 10,000 4, ,666 6, ,000 29,999 38,860 20,095 18,765 19,355 2,008 30,000 49,999 45,696 24,451 21,245 18,261 2,502 50,000 74,999 49,075 26,471 22,604 15,798 3,106 75,000 99,999 39,713 24,343 15,370 9,998 3, , ,999 51,984 36,999 14,985 11,543 4, , ,999 13,104 10,685 2,419 2,828 4,634 > 500,000 3,455 2, ,385 Total 246, , ,724 85,263 2,886 1 See discussion immediately following Table 1 for the methodologies applied in calculating the value of this exclusion. Table 2 reflects both income tax and FICA distributional consequences. 2 Negative amounts reflect the fact that the exclusion reduces earned income for purposes of the earned income credit, resulting in a decrease in refundable credits for some recipients. Source: JCT Staff calculations. Table 2 shows the total savings from the employer exclusion for eight income brackets. This table shows that those in the lower income brackets obtain cash savings from the exclusion for employer-provided health care valued at between $600 and $3,000, while those earning more than $100,000 per year have average cash savings worth between $4,000 and $5,000. As with other compensation, the amount paid by an employer for employer-provided health care of employees is deductible. Unlike other forms of compensation, however, if an employer contributes to a plan providing health coverage for an employee (and his or her spouse and dependents), the contribution and all benefits (including reimbursements) for medical care under the plan are excludable from the employee s income for both income and payroll tax purposes. 6 The exclusion applies both in the case in which employers absorb the cost of their employees medical expenses not covered by insurance (i.e., a self-insured plan) as well as employer payments to purchase health insurance. There is no limit on the amount of employerprovided health coverage that is excludable. 6 Secs. 104, 105, 106, 125, and 3121(a)(4). Health coverage provided to active members of the uniformed services, military retirees, and their dependents are excludable under section 134. That section provides an exclusion for qualified military benefits, defined as benefits received by reason of status or service as a member of the uniformed services and which was excludable from gross income on September 9, 1986, under any provision of law, regulation, or administrative practice then in effect. 5

8 Active employees participating in a cafeteria plan 7 may pay their share of premiums on a pre-tax basis through salary reduction. Such salary reduction contributions are treated as employer contributions and thus also are excluded from gross income and wages for payroll taxes. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ( ERISA ) preempts State law relating to certain employee benefit plans, including employer-sponsored health plans. 8 While ERISA specifically provides that its preemption rule does not exempt or relieve any person from any State law which regulates insurance, ERISA also provides that an employee benefit plan is not deemed to be engaged in the business of insurance for purposes of any State law regulating insurance companies or insurance contracts. As a result of this ERISA preemption, self-insured employer-sponsored health plans need not provide benefits that are mandated under State insurance law. Further, self-insured employer plans are not subject to State insurance taxes or regulation, such as premium taxes imposed on insurance companies under State law. Unlike tax-qualified pension plans, present law includes few requirements or limitations on the design of employer-provided health care plans. In particular, and in contrast to most other Federal tax benefits, there is no limitation on the amount of health benefits that an employer can provide on a tax-free basis. This effectively allows taxpayers to control the amount of their tax benefit. Employer-provided health plans are not required to cover all employees or to provide the same benefits to all employees. 9 In addition, the tax exclusion is not predicated on coverage of certain illnesses or conditions. 7 If an employer offers employees a choice between taxable benefits (which include cash compensation) and qualified benefits (which include employer-provided accident and health coverage), the choice must generally be provided under a cafeteria plan that satisfies section 125. Otherwise providing this choice may result in income inclusion even if the employee chooses an excludable benefit. See sec. 125 and proposed Treas. Reg. secs through -7, published in the Federal Register on August 6, 2007, 72 FR A cafeteria plan must be in writing and must not provide for deferred compensation except as specifically provided in section 125(d). Certain excludable benefits are not permitted to be provided in a cafeteria plan, including long-term care benefits, contributions to Archer MSAs, qualified scholarships under section 117, benefits under educational assistance programs under section 127, and certain fringe benefits under section 132. HSA contributions are allowed through a cafeteria plan. If benefits provided under a cafeteria plan discriminate in favor of highly compensated participants, any exclusion from income for benefits under the plan may not apply to such highly compensated participants. Any qualified benefit must also satisfy any specific requirements under the section that allows its exclusion. 8 ERISA sec An exception to this general rule applies in the case of self-insured group health plans, which must satisfy certain nondiscrimination rules in order for the benefits of highly compensated individuals to be excludable. Sec. 105(h). As previously discussed, benefits provided under a cafeteria plan are subject to certain nondiscrimination requirements. 6

9 Distinct from the exclusion, certain rules relating to coverage apply in the case of group health plans. 10 The Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1985 ( COBRA ) requires that a group health plan must offer continuation coverage to qualified beneficiaries in the case of a qualifying event (such as a loss of employment). In addition, in the case of group health coverage, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ( HIPAA ) imposes a number of requirements that are designed to provide protections to health plan participants. 11 For example, HIPAA provides rules on when a pre-existing condition exclusion may be imposed with respect to a participant or beneficiary and rules that prohibit discrimination with respect to eligibility and premium contributions on the basis of health status. HIPAA also provides rules relating to specific coverage (e.g., rules for minimum hospital stays following the birth of a child if such benefit is provided under the plan). The employee income and wage exclusion for employer-provided health care is not dependent on satisfying the requirements of COBRA and HIPAA. Instead, the Code imposes an excise tax on group health plans that fail to meet these requirements. 12 The excise tax is generally equal to $100 per day during the period of noncompliance and is imposed on the employer sponsoring the plan if the plan fails to meet the requirements. In addition to offering health insurance (or self-insurance), employers often agree to reimburse medical expenses of their employees (and their spouses and dependents). These arrangements are commonly used by employers to pay or reimburse employees for medical expenses that are not covered by health insurance. These arrangements include health flexible spending arrangements ( FSAs ) and health reimbursement arrangements ( HRAs ). Health FSAs typically are funded on a salary reduction basis under a cafeteria plan, meaning that employees are given the option to reduce their current cash compensation and instead have the amount made available for use in reimbursing the employee for his or her medical expenses. Health FSAs that are funded on a salary reduction basis are subject to the Code s requirements for cafeteria plans, including a requirement that amounts remaining in a health FSA under a cafeteria plan as of the end of a plan year must be forfeited by the employee (referred to as the use-it-or-lose-it-rule ). 13 If the health FSA under a cafeteria plan meets 10 A group health plan is defined as a plan (including a self-insured plan) of, or contributed to by, an employer (including a self-employed person) or employee organization to provide health care (directly or otherwise) to the employees, former employees, the employer, others associated or formerly associated with the employer in a business relationship, or their families. ( PHSA ). 11 The requirements are enforced through the Code, ERISA, and the Public Health Service Act 12 Secs. 4980B; 4980D. 13 Sec. 125(d)(2). See proposed Treas. Reg. secs through -7. However, if a plan chooses, a grace period not to exceed two and one-half months immediately following the end of the plan year during which unused amounts may be used is allowed. Notice , C.B Health FSAs are subject to certain other requirements, including rules that require that the FSA have certain characteristics similar to insurance. 7

10 certain requirements, the compensation that is forgone is not includible in gross income or wages. Reimbursements for medical care from the health FSA similarly are excludable from gross income and wages. Health reimbursement arrangements ( HRAs ) operate in a manner similar to health FSAs, in that they are an employer-maintained arrangement that reimburses employees for medical expenses. Some of the rules applicable to HRAs and health FSAs are similar (e.g., the amounts in the arrangements can only be used to reimburse medical expenses and not for other purposes), but the rules are not identical. In particular, HRAs cannot be funded on a salary reduction basis and the use-it-or-lose-it rule does not apply. Thus, amounts remaining at the end of the year may be carried forward to be used to reimburse medical expenses in the next year. 14 Unlike a health FSA, an HRA is permitted to reimburse an employee for health insurance premiums. Unlike the section 213 itemized deduction for medical expenses which (as discussed below), in the case of drugs, is limited to prescribed drugs, 15 tax-free reimbursement for nonprescription drugs is permitted in the case of an employer-provided health plan. Thus, for example, amounts paid from an FSA, HRA, or health savings account (described later in the pamphlet) to reimburse the employee for nonprescription medicines, such as sunscreen, nonprescription aspirin, allergy medicine, antacids, or pain relievers, are excludable from income. This creates an even greater tax preference for employer-provided health care arrangements. Coverage under employer-sponsored health care The vast majority of Americans finance health care through employment-based insurance coverage. 14 Guidance with respect to HRAs, including the interaction of FSAs and HRAs in the case of an individual covered under both, is provided in Notice , C.B Under section 213(b), in the case of medicine or drugs, an expenditure is taken into account only if it is incurred for a prescribed drug or insulin. 8

11 Figure 1. Health Insurance Coverage Source for the Nonelderly Population, 2008 [millions of persons] 16.7% Uninsured, % TRICARE, % Medicare (disability), % Employer Sponsored Insurance, % Medicaid and SCHIP, % Non-group, % Self Employed, 6.6 * Total exceeds 100% because individuals may have multiple sources of health insurance coverage. Source: JCT Staff calculations based on Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys (2001-3), and Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income 2005 data; Congressional Budget Office March 2008 baseline. All employers do not provide equal access to health insurance. Historically, small businesses are far less likely than large businesses to offer health insurance. 16 Small businesses are more sensitive to price than are large businesses when considering offering health insurance. Therefore, if the price of health insurance changes due to a change in the tax treatment of health insurance, the greatest impact will be seen in the rates at which health insurance is offered by small businesses. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that a 10 percent increase in the cost of premiums to employees would cause a 7.2 percent reduction in the offer of health insurance for individuals working at firms with fewer than 100 employees. The same 10 percent price 16 Thirty-eight percent of workers in firms with fewer than ten employees are eligible for coverage, compared to 78 percent of workers in firms with more than 1,000 employees. When offered insurance, employee enrollment was 81 percent, ranging from 78 percent for small-moderate firms to 83 percent for very large firms. Thomas M. Selden and Bradley M. Gray, Tax Subsidies For Employment- Related Health Insurance: Estimates For 2006 Health Affairs. Vol. 25 Issue 6, November/December, 2006 pp

12 increase would cause a 0.4 percent decrease in the health insurance offer for individuals working for firms with more than 100 employees. 17 Employer involvement in the purchase of health insurance has both advantages and disadvantages in the market. The primary advantage is that health insurance costs less when purchased through an employer as compared with the non-group market; non-group insurance is fundamentally more expensive. The principal reason for the price advantage of group over individual health insurance is that insuring a group has less per capita risk than insuring an individual; therefore, the risk premium paid to the insurance company is lower. Employer-sponsored health plans provide a pooling mechanism that is unrelated to the health status of the insured, which minimizes problems with adverse selection into health plans. (Adverse selection refers to the phenomenon that those most in need of insurance are the most likely to seek it out.) Economies of scale also reduce the administrative costs for group plans, and therefore health insurance premiums are lower to this extent for employer plans relative to premiums in the non-group market. 18 As a result, insurance purchased through the group market is less expensive, because it is less costly to sell to and maintain one group of several hundred people than to sell and maintain hundreds of groups of one to two people. CBO has estimated that 29 percent of the premium in the non-group market is spent on administration, while in the large group market administration costs only nine percent of the premium. 19 Finally, employers generally have superior negotiating power with an insurance company than does an individual consumer. Employers have more experience and sophistication in evaluating insurance proposals, can offer much larger blocks of business by virtue of the group nature of employer-provided insurance, and may have other business relationships with the insurer. There is some recent evidence from the financial services sector that shifting people into the individual market would increase the time and effort required to purchase health insurance. This may lead to procrastination in obtaining insurance and a temporary or even a permanent rise in the rate of uninsurance. Complexity of choice, paired with the absence of a deadline for acquiring insurance, will likely lead to delays in the purchase of insurance. For example, some have argued that employers are good agents for their employees and provide invaluable research 17 Congressional Budget Office, CBO s Health Insurance Simulation Model: A Technical Description, October A Congressional Research Service Report from 1988 found that insurance in small groups (fewer than five members) cost 40 percent more than in large groups (more than 10,000 members). Congressional Research Service, Costs and Effects of Extending Health Insurance Coverage, Congressional Budget Office, CBO s Health Insurance Simulation Model: A Technical Description, October

13 into the appropriate health plans to offer. 20 The employer acts as an agent to limit and guide choice. The open enrollment period, which is a limited time window when insurance can be chosen, prevents excessive procrastination before purchase. These complexity problems were seen by some American seniors after the release of the Medicare Part D plans in 2004, which required many seniors to choose a prescription drug plan in order to optimize prescription drug benefits. There were reports that, with so many complicated options, many seniors had difficulty choosing a plan. 21 Although the individual market is at a cost disadvantage relative to the employer market for health insurance, it provides greater choice for health insurance coverage. This said, only one percent of those offered employer insurance decline it and purchase insurance in the individual market. 22 Some employees may feel locked into their current jobs because switching to a different employer could result in a loss of their current health coverage. Despite the protection of HIPAA for pre-existing conditions, 23 an employee who has insurance with a certain level of coverage for a specific condition through his or her current employer may nevertheless lose that level of coverage if the employee were to move to a new job because the new employer s health plan does not cover that condition or does not provide the same level of coverage for the condition. Even if the health plan is substantially identical, the employee might be concerned that the new job might not work out, and the employee might become unemployed resulting in a loss of coverage or the potential for significantly higher premium costs. The resulting labor market inefficiency is commonly referred to as job lock, where individuals remain with employers in order to maintain their current health insurance when their preference is to leave 20 Research on retirement plans finds that as the number of investment options increased by 10, participation declined by 1.5 to 2 percentage points. S.S. Iyengar, G. Huberman, and W. Jiang. How Much Choice Is Too Much?: Contributions to 401(k) Retirement Plans, in Olivia Mitchell and Stephen Utkus, eds., Pension Design and Structure: New Lessons from Behavioral Finance (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2004): pp John Leland, 73 Options for Medicare Plan Fuel Chaos, Not Prescriptions, New York Times, May 14, Congressional Budget Office, CBO s Health Insurance Simulation Model: A Technical Description. October Although a group health plan sponsored by an employer is limited by HIPAA in its ability to impose a pre-existing condition exclusion on a plan participant, a plan is permitted to exclude conditions diagnosed within the six-month period ending on enrollment in the plan, provided that the exclusion generally may not extend for longer than 12 months (18 months in the case of certain late enrollees in the plan) and the maximum exclusion period must be reduced by the participant's aggregate periods of creditable coverage. Creditable coverage includes a participant's coverage under a group health of a prior employer provided that there is no more than a 63 day gap in coverage between the new plan and the old plan. Sec

14 the workforce or find new work. 24 There are other examples of job lock. Job lock may prevent an individual from leaving a large employer that offers insurance and starting a new independent business due to extra health insurance premiums that may be charged with respect to an individual health insurance policy. 25 Job lock also may prevent an employee who is sick or has a sick dependent from switching to an employer with another health plan for fear of disrupting the patient-physician relationship. Market distortions from employer-provided health care The tax treatment of health care affects the health care market and can distort consumer choices. Reduced taxation of income spent on health insurance is an implicit subsidy to eligible consumers by the Federal government. This discount on the employer purchase of health insurance provides an incentive for the purchase of more generous health insurance benefits than would otherwise be purchased without the discount. Increased health insurance benefits generally include some combination of reduced copayments, deductibles and expanded benefits. Because consumers are responsive to changes in the cost of health care, 26 increased health insurance benefits lead to an increase in the use of health care services. Therefore, the tax exclusion for health insurance and other medical services increases the demand for health care services. The distortion in the market caused by the tax preference afforded health insurance arises from a two-part market response: 1) demand for medical care increases, increasing the price of health care services; and 2) increased prices draw additional resources into the medical services sector, and away from other less tax-favored sectors. Moving resources from one sector where they are more productive to another sector may result in less efficient production of additional medical services, thus resulting in generally higher medical costs. These market mechanisms affect all prices for health care services in the market, not only the extra services paid for through insurance. The market inefficiency arising from the taxinduced spending on health care versus other goods generates a loss to the economy referred to 24 Evidence of job lock in the literature is mixed, with some papers finding health insurance decreasing mobility, some papers finding no effect and some papers finding an effect only under certain specifications. Brigitte C. Madrian, The U.S. Health Care System and Labor Markets, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper # 11980, January While HIPAA contains rules that generally require that an individual who loses employerprovided health coverage have access to an individual health insurance policy without being subject to preexisting condition exclusions, such rules are subject to a number of exceptions (including rules that permit a State to implement alternative individual health insurance protections) and the rules do not provide protections with respect to the premium that may be charged for the policy. See 42 U.S.C. sec. 300gg-41, Joseph P. Newhouse, Free For All?: Lessons From the RAND Health Insurance Experiment. Harvard University Press,

15 as dead weight loss, 27 because it results in a net loss of consumer welfare. Therefore, the impact on the economy materially exceeds the loss of tax revenues from subsidizing health care expenditures. The elimination of this distortion could lead the economy to function more efficiently and increase individuals collective welfare. There is substantial evidence that the tax preference for health care does indeed increase demand; however, estimates of the size of the increase span an extremely wide range, indicating considerable uncertainty among economists on the true size of the increase in the volume and price of health care due to the tax exclusion. 28 On the other hand, some observers argue that tax subsidies for health insurance and other medical expenditures may correct a market failure, in the form of a tendency of many people to under-spend on health insurance and health services. Under this view, the tax subsidy might make the health care market more efficient and may improve welfare. 29 Equity issues relating to employer-provided health care The current tax treatment of health care expenditures is criticized as inequitable because it provides an inconsistent tax benefit based on how health coverage is provided. 30 Generally, those who obtain their health insurance through their employer are afforded the most favorable tax treatment. Those who are employed but who must obtain health insurance in the individual market receive the worst tax treatment. Many observers believe that this inequity combined with the lack of group rates in the individual market may lead to some persons remaining uninsured. Some critics assert that the tax exclusion for employer-provided health is inherently regressive, and thus unfair those with the greatest income are in the highest tax brackets, and therefore receive the greatest tax benefit from the exclusion from income. For example, a single individual with no dependents and $100,000 of taxable income per year has a marginal tax rate of 28 percent, excluding the effects of Social Security and Medicare taxes. If that person purchases a health plan through an employer that costs $5,000, the Federal income tax value of 27 Martin S. Feldstein, The Welfare Loss of Excess Health Insurance. Journal of Political Economy Vol. 81 Issue 2, (Mar-April 1973): pp Joseph P. Newhouse, Free For All?: Lessons From the RAND Health Insurance Experiment, Harvard University Press, For example, one study found that 25 percent of patients took zero or one drug after a heart attack rather than two or more drugs due to the drugs copayment costs even though the extra drugs cost $1,855, per year, they provided $35,000 in health care benefits (not including savings from decreases in future medical costs). This study indicated that costs greatly impact the purchase of these drugs and they are often underused. Niteesh K. Choudhry, et. al., Cost-Effectiveness of Providing Full Drug Coverage to Increase Medication Adherence in Post Myocardial Infarction Medicare Beneficiaries Circulation Vol. 117 (2008) pp See Appendix B and Appendix C for illustrations of the tax benefits for an individual depending on the source and type of coverage. 13

16 the tax exclusion (the income tax not paid) is $1,400. A single individual with no dependents and taxable income of $30,000 is in the 15 percent bracket and would therefore receive a 15 percent, or $750, subsidy for the same health plan. The argument that the exclusion (or a similar deduction) for employer-provided health care is unfair because it is regressive is somewhat incomplete, in that the asserted unfairness of the exclusion follows directly from the tax rate structure being progressive. For example, under a single tax rate system (a flat tax), the tax benefit in the example above would be identical for the $100,000 earner and the $30,000 earner. Any deduction will be regressive given a progressive rate structure, but the appropriateness of a deduction in defining the tax base arguably should be determined independently of the rate structure. 31 If the tax base is intended to reflect ability to pay, then a deduction for an expenditure that reduces ability to pay may be appropriate, notwithstanding that the decision to have a progressive rate structure means that a given deduction will have more value the greater is the taxpayer s marginal tax rate. Additionally, it must be recognized that policies with respect to permitted deductions and the marginal rate structure are set concomitantly to achieve the desired level of progressivity of the tax code overall. If a deduction were not permitted, the rate structure, including the bracket widths, might have evolved differently. That is, the same overall degree of progressivity of the tax code can be achieved with or without a given deduction, through the alteration of the rate structure. In the example above, it would be possible to permit the exclusions for employerprovided health care but alter the rate structure to raise taxes on the employee with $100,000 of income by $1,400, and the employee with $30,000 of income by $750, thus negating the tax advantage of the exclusion and preserving the overall progressivity of the tax code. Alternative tax policies subsidizing insurance coverage If a deduction or exclusion is merely intended to provide a Federal subsidy for a particular expenditure, and has no meritorious independent place in an income tax system other than as a means to deliver the subsidy, then a good case can be made that the deduction or exclusion should be altered to mitigate any distortionary effects it may have on economic behavior. Employer-provided health care has important nontax advantages compared to an entirely individual-consumer-based heath care system, 32 but also has some economic deadweight loss associated with it. Policy analysts have focused a great deal of attention on the trade-off between those advantages and economic deadweight loss. 31 For related discussion, see William D. Andrews, Personal Deductions in an Ideal Income Tax, 86 Harv. L. Rev. 309, See, for example, Melissa A. Thomasson, "The Importance of Group Coverage: How Tax Policy Shaped U.S. Health Insurance," National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 7543, February

17 Because of the efficiency and equity concerns associated with subsidizing health insurance through the exclusion for employer-sponsored health care, many health reform proposals begin with removing the employer exclusion. On the other hand, policy makers need to keep in mind the price sensitivity of the market. Removal or reduction of the exclusion of employer-provided health care from an employee s taxable income and wages could reduce the number of firms offering health insurance, possibly increasing the number of uninsured. For example, one study estimated that the total number of employees offered health insurance would drop by 15.5 percent if all of the exclusions were repealed and by 9.7 percent if the income tax exclusion were repealed, but the payroll and state tax exclusions remained. 33 Thus, in practice most comprehensive health care proposals tend either to limit the exclusion, or replace it with some other form of Federal subsidy. The unlimited exposure of the Federal budget created by the exclusion could be reduced by capping the dollar amount of the exclusion per person or per tax return. The cap would also reduce the incentive for individuals to over-consume health insurance, to the extent that the cap is lower than the policy an individual currently carries. If the cap is not indexed, or is indexed to a measure such as the consumer price index that typically grows more slowly than medical costs, the subsidy for employer-provided health care would decline relative to the cost of the care over time. Thus, the economic distortion effects of the exclusion would be reduced gradually over time. Another approach to reforming the exclusion would be to replace it with a limited deduction. Under present law, if the employer exclusion for health insurance were removed, many individuals would still be able to deduct at least part of the cost of their premiums as itemized medical expenses under section As is discussed in more detail in Part III.B. below, there may be reasons to retain the section 213 deduction if the exclusion is eliminated and not replaced by some other tax subsidy for the purchase of health insurance. In brief, the section 213 deduction recognizes that many medical expenditures are not discretionary, and an income tax base that reflects ability to pay would allow a deduction of these expenses. In addition, the section 213 deduction is less regressive than the exclusion with respect to upper income taxpayers, because the 7.5 percent threshold for the deduction is difficult to overcome at higher income levels. Replacing the exclusion with a deduction for expenditures over some threshold may link the tax subsidy more closely to ability to pay, but it does not address the efficiency issue that providing larger subsidies for larger insurance payments provides an incentive to over-consume health insurance. A different approach, which would reduce the incentives provided by the exclusion for individuals to over-consume employer-provided health insurance, would be to 33 Jonathan Gruber and Michael Lettau, How elastic is the firm s demand for health insurance? Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 88 (2004), pp That deduction is only allowable to the extent that a taxpayer s medical expenses exceed 7.5 percent of his total adjusted gross income (see more detailed discussion of section 213 in Part III. B., below). 15

18 replace the exclusion with a deduction of a flat amount that is unrelated to the price of the insurance policy. 35 Under this approach, depending on the level set for this flat deduction, the tax subsidy would be large enough to enable people to continue insurance coverage, but there would be no tax advantage for a taxpayer to purchase more expensive insurance. If such a deduction were provided for the purchase of insurance in the individual market in addition to employer-provided insurance, individuals who do not have the option of obtaining employersponsored health insurance would be able to use the deduction to help purchase insurance in the individual market, thus reducing the number of uninsured. The advantage of obtaining insurance through one s employer would also be reduced, possibly leading to a reduction in the number of people who receive offers of health insurance coverage through their employers. The net effect of this policy on the number of uninsured individuals would depend on the size of the fixed deduction relative to the cost of a typical insurance policy. 36 The amount of the deduction could be chosen to limit Federal budget exposure, and, like the cap, it could be indexed to grow more slowly than medical expenditures, thus reducing the Federal budget impact and the tax subsidy for health insurance over time. An additional consideration in the setting of subsidy levels for employer and non-group insurance is the interaction of these changing subsidies with adverse selection. Non-group insurance is generally more attractive to individuals with low medical costs. To the extent that there is a substantial re-alignment between the attractiveness of employer insurance and nongroup insurance, younger, healthier individuals may decline employer coverage to such an extent that the advantages of risk pooling by employers are lost, resulting in significant declines in the offer of employer insurance. To the extent that this occurs without some alternate risk pooling mechanism being made available, this could result in a significant increase in the number of uninsured individuals. One problem with providing for a flat deduction (or exclusion) amount is that it could result in insurance products with minimal coverage being offered to individuals who are more interested in obtaining the deduction than in obtaining genuine health insurance coverage. The policy amounts could be set at amounts worth less than the tax value of the deduction. This would undermine the goal of promoting broader insurance coverage, at some cost to the taxpayer. In order to prevent such a result, the availability of the deduction could be linked to purchase of an insurance policy that met certain standards. However, this requirement would require additional administrative work by the IRS, in terms of determining whether an individual has health insurance that qualified for the deduction. Proposals. 35 See, for example, the proposal included in the Administration s Fiscal Year 2009 Revenue 36 For example, the Congressional Budget Office finds that removing the exclusion and replacing it with flat deductions of $7,000 for single policies and $15,000 for family policies would reduce the number of uninsured people by about five million in the first several years after enactment. Congressional Budget Office, "An Analysis of the Presidents Budgetary Proposals for Fiscal Year 2009," March 2008, p

19 None of the approaches described above addresses the limitations of the exclusion or deduction in providing subsidies for the purchase of health insurance to those who are least able to afford it: to people who have little income and thus little or no tax liability. To address this problem, the exclusion or deduction could be converted to a refundable credit. 37 In contrast to an exclusion or deduction (even a deduction of a fixed amount), a refundable credit will provide the same benefit or subsidy to all taxpayers regardless of their income levels. A non-refundable credit for an expenditure would generally be as easy to administer as a deduction for the same expenditure. A refundable tax credit poses significant difficulties in administration for several reasons. 38 It brings into the income tax system people who otherwise would not be part of the tax system, and thus the IRS may not have easily verifiable information about their income and other information necessary to monitor compliance with the credit. Additionally, some have proposed that refundable tax credits be made available on an advance basis, so that they could be used directly to purchase health insurance. Such a system could require timely verification of insurance status and credit eligibility by the IRS. Some believe refundable credits, particularly advanceable refundable credits, may encourage fraud. Existing refundable credits in the Code that have been paid in error have proven difficult for the IRS to recoup. 39 Even the provision of a refundable tax credit to subsidize the costs of purchasing health insurance may not provide enough of an incentive to ensure that the estimated 44 million people who are currently uninsured obtain health insurance. For this reason, some have proposed making purchase of insurance mandatory for all citizens, and combining this requirement with a tax liability that would contribute to the payment of the premiums. Under such an arrangement, individuals would have a strong incentive to purchase insurance as they are paying for at least part of it through the tax system. However, because many individuals cannot afford to pay either the insurance or the tax liability, these proposals are often combined with subsidies in the form of deductions and refundable, or advance refundable tax credits. Such proposals are complex and far-reaching and face administrative and compliance challenges. Exclusion from income, in contrast to either deductions or credits, has the administrative advantage of not requiring valuation or verification of the excluded item, at least when the exclusion is not capped. Providing a tax benefit through an exclusion has limited application however, as it requires that the subsidized item be provided to the taxpayer in the form of compensation, or other form of income. 37 Lily L. Batchelder, Fred T. Goldberg Jr., Peter R. Orszag, Efficiency and Tax Incentives: The Case for Refundable Tax Credits, 59 Stan. L. Rev. Vol. 23 (2006). 38 See, for example, the following papers regarding the administration of the earned income credit: Janet McCubbin, Non-compliance with the Earned Income Tax Credit pp ; and Jennifer Romich and Thomas Weisner, "How Families View and Use the Earned Income Tax Credit: Advance Payments Versus Lump-Sum Delivery," pp , in Making Work Pay, Bruce Meyr and Douglas Holtz-Eakin, eds, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, Government Accountability Office, Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit: Low Use and Small Dollars Paid Impede IRS s Efforts to Reduce High Noncompliance, Report to the Joint Committee on Taxation, GAO , August

20 B. Deduction for Health Insurance Premiums of Self-Employed Individuals Under present law, self-employed individuals may deduct the cost of health insurance for themselves and their spouses and dependents. 40 The tax expenditure for the deduction for health insurance premiums for self-employed individuals was $4.8 billion for The deduction is not available for any month in which the self-employed individual is eligible to participate in an employer-subsidized health plan. Moreover, the deduction may not exceed the individual s self-employment income. The deduction applies only to the cost of insurance, i.e., it does not apply to out-of-pocket expenses that are not reimbursed by insurance. 41 The deduction does not apply for self-employment tax purposes. For purposes of the deduction, a more than two percent shareholder-employee of an S corporation is treated the same as self-employed individual. 42 Thus, the exclusion for employer-provided health care coverage does not apply to such individuals, but they are entitled to the deduction for health insurance costs as if they were self employed. This deduction can be claimed to have the effect of putting a self-employed individual in a similar position to an employee by allowing the self-employed individual to receive the equivalent of an income tax exclusion for health insurance coverage provided by the business for which the self-employed individual performs services. In fact, however, the two regimes differ in several important respects. First, as described above, a deduction from income for selfemployment tax purposes is not provided in the case of a self-employed individual. For this reason, a self-employed individual receives less favorable tax treatment than does an employee with the same coverage provided by their employer. The employer-provided exclusion retains another significant advantage because the exclusion for self-employed individuals does not apply in the case of non-insurance arrangements, such as an HRA. On the other hand, a self-employed individual, particularly a partner or a self-employed individual with a minority interest in a business, may be at an advantage over an employee because the self-employed individual may unilaterally decide to purchase health insurance 40 Sec. 162(l). 41 Premiums for a self-insured plan are eligible for the deduction if the self-insured plan actually constitutes an insurance arrangement, which generally means that the arrangement must result in adequate risk-shifting and not merely reimburse the individual for health expenses. For example, the IRS has ruled that a self-insured health plan of a law firm covering 200 self-employed partners and 800 employees demonstrated adequate risk shifting where the plan charged premiums that were determined on the basis of the actuarial costs of the plan and each partner was liable for a pro-rata share of plan experience losses. Pvt. L. Rul Self-employed individuals are not eligible to participate in HRAs. See Notice , C.B. 93. In addition, self-employed individuals are not eligible to participate in a cafeteria plan, including a health FSA funded by elective contributions, because cafeteria plan participation is limited to employees. See sec. 125(d)(1)(A). 42 Sec

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